Website visitor tracking tools are software that help website owners track and analyze user behavior on their website.These tools can provide valuable insights into how visitors interact with a website, key statistics and metrics about site traffic, and audience demographics.

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Have you ever tried to load a website on your phone only for it to turn into a janky mess?

Maybe you tried to stretch the screen to make the menu bigger, or tried to swipe but accidentally clicked on an ad that jumped into view instead?

All of this is what happens when you disrespect the thumb zone.

Enter The Thumb Zone

The opposable thumb is what separates man from the rest of the animals. Humans are apex predators because we hold spears, craft tools, and even communicate with our hands.

Today, our thumbs do similarly important things like hand over money in exchange for goods and services, or tap, double tap, swipe, drag, and press on a screen.

Where would mankind be without thumbs?

Businesses know just how important thumbs are. Most people hold their smartphones in one hand, using their thumb to navigate the screen.

We indulge in doom-scrolling past endlessly polarizing content run by platforms that keep changing their interface even when we don’t want them to.

The thumb zone remains constant across most smartphones and tablets. So we can learn to detect patterns in our customers over time because of this.

Most users prefer call-to-action buttons on the bottom half of the screen because that requires less stretching than moving your thumb to the upper half of the screen. Mobile websites also present business owners with handy heat maps.

These let you know where visitors are tapping and scrolling across their website so they can plan their content to be more engaging as well.

This is why understanding the thumb zone is important. It teaches us how people use their phones.

But so what? Why is this important?

Let’s look at why thumb-friendly navigation is a game-changer for businesses today.

1. Our thumbs help us access social media and websites

A serious amount of all web traffic today comes in the form of mobile users.

A social media presence or mobile website is the first way many customers find the brands they become long-term customers of.

But websites have to be designed with thumb-friendliness in mind to be able to be navigated easily. Or businesses run the risk of customers losing interest and moving on to another website instead.

If navigating your website hurts the customer’s thumb, it can signal the death knell of your business.

2. Thumb-friendly navigation reduces friction

Friction is what makes it easy for your customers to find your website and make purchases.

Mobile-friendly websites are what make it possible for customers to quickly and easily access the content you make.

The easier it is to navigate, the more time people spend on your website. This in turn influences website bounce rates, retention times, likelihood of purchasing, and an endless amount of metrics that influence how many sales you make this financial year.

Ease of navigation means not needing to zoom over and over, swiping to see different parts of your website, and the ability to scroll endlessly to engage with your content.

Most importantly, a thumb-friendly website shows your customers that you care about them, which helps boost customer loyalty, trust, and user experience.

3. Thumb-friendly websites stand higher in search engine rankings

A simple side effect of creating a thumb-friendly website is improved responsiveness.

The sad truth is, no matter how amazing and powerful your brand is, customers are simply going to leave your website if it doesn’t load quickly enough.

If clicking on a link crashes your website, they are going to go to your competitor. If dragging and pinching and zooming take forever, they are going to go to your competitor once again.

As a result, search engine services such as Google identify websites that are mobile-friendly.

They then up-rank them in the search listings page because they prefer to provide functioning, responsive pages over pages that are slow and unoptimized.

They then use their mobile testing tool to give your website a mobile speed score that takes into consideration your overall design elements and performance.

4. Thumb-friendly websites improve conversion rates

Online shoppers simply prefer using mobile devices when buying products online.

While many adults prefer using a desktop, laptop, or brick-and-mortar store, younger generations prefer shopping on their phones.

Not only are phones being increasingly used for purchases, the single biggest influence on a purchase is recommendations from influencers on social media apps. Most of these are mostly accessed via phones as well. Influencers play a big role in increasing brand awareness. Younger generations in particular prefer them over actual Hollywood celebrities because of the parasocial relationship they enjoy with many influencers on sites like YouTube.

If your digital presence isn’t easy to access on the same tool most people are interacting with friends, family, and influencers, you are leaving money on the table. Money that your competitors will gladly snatch away with their thumb-friendly website instead.

So, focus on making your website thumb-friendly and be ready to win over more loyal customers!

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